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JEFFREYS Bay hosted this year’s Provincial Marine Day celebrations and the Greenest Municipality Competition Awards at the Newton Hall on Thursday.
District municipalities from across the pro-vince and representatives from their nominated local municipalities descended on the coastal town, with Kouga being identified as the municipality of choice to host the event.
The annual programme is organised by the Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT) and this year’s theme was: “Nature knows no waste”.
The keynote speaker at the function was MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Oscar Mabuyane.
Mabuyane said the provincial event was part of the National Marine Day celebrations, which aim at highlighting the importance of oceans and the role they play in people’s daily lives.
“The aim is also to create awareness of the marine ecosystem and its potential economic benefits such as fishing and other maritime pursuits in general.”
He said the Greenest Municipality Competition formed part of the National Waste Management Strategy.
“It takes into consideration our commitment to minimise waste through proper waste management and aims to create awareness of how waste is generated and disposed of at landfill sites.
“The competition further encourages the elimination of risks caused by pollution to human health and the environment,” he said.
Mabuyane recognised Kouga as the ideal municipality to host the event owing to the region’s significant marine and estuarine life and environmental presence.
“The Kouga area is endowed with a wealth of estuaries that are worthy of being conserved,” he said.
Mzimvubu Local Municipality took this year’s first prize of R500 000 while Ndlambe and Elundini took the second and third prizes of R300 000 and R200 000 respectively.
Welcoming guests from the department and municipalities Kouga Speaker Hattingh Bornman said: “Kouga might not have entered this year’s competition, but we are grateful that it did not prevent DEDEAT from asking us to host the event as a reliable ally,” he said.
“Jeffreys Bay was recently crowned as the Kwêla Town of The Year, which highlighted the environmental beauty and assets of the town.
“Dolphin Beach has also secured international Blue Flag status for the 17th time, again bearing testimony to our role in promoting Kouga as an environmentally-friendly eco-tourism destination.”
Bornman said the municipality intended to entering and winning future competitions.
